October 22, 2008IMLAY CITY — The Imlay City varsity football team (2-6, 2-5) wound up nine points short when the final scores were added up, dropping a 36-27 verdict to visiting Blue Water Area Conference counterpart Richmond (5-3, 5-2) last Friday night.

With the result, Richmond wraps up a piece of the BWAC title along with Almont, Cros-Lex and Yale.

"We had two punts blocked during the fourth quarter," Imlay City Coach John Forti said. "Both times it set up Richmond in good field position and they went on to score touchdowns," he noted.

"We had our chances to score as well throughout the contest but just couldn't cash in often enough. Despite all of those things that went the other way we still were able to hang tough. I give our kids a lot of credit, they fought hard to the end."

In Friday's confrontation, Richmond jumped out to a 14-7 advantage after one quarter was history.

Quarter number two would see Richmond collect nine points, while allowing Imlay City six.

That staked Richmond to a 23-13 cushion at the halftime break.

When the action resumed, the momentum shifted over to Imlay City's side.

It was there Imlay City bounced back with a 14-0 third quarter advantage.

That left Imlay City holding a 27-23 edge at the 36-minute mark.

Richmond then countered with a 13-0 advantage the rest of the way, securing a come-from-behind win at Imlay City's expense.

Imlay City notched their 27-point output that night on the strength of an Aaron Thompson to Alex Maldonado 73-yard touchdown pass (followed by a successful extra-point kick courtesy of D.J. Salet); a Thompson to Adam Van Dyk 26-yard touchdown pass; a Maldonado seven-yard touchdown run (followed by an accurate extra-point boot from Salet) and a Salet 45-yard interception return for a touchdown (followed by a successful extra-point kick courtesy of Salet).

On the evening, Thompson completed 17 of 38 pass plays for 263 yards as Imlay City's quarterback. He threw one interception along the way.

Maldonado was the other Imlay City player who opted to air out the football. His lone attempt fell incomplete.

Individually, Maldonado led Imlay City with three rushes for 16 yards. The remaining six Spartan totes netted a combined six-yard loss.

Mason Day (five solos and five assists) paced Imlay City's defense. He was backed by Mitch Rheaume (six solos and three assists), Darren Saunders (six solos and two assists), Brad Kramek (four solos and three assists), Dane Walker (four solos and three assists) and Van Dyk (three solos and one assist).

The Imlay City defense also claimed a pair of takeaways. Van Dyk and Salet (an interception each) provided those.

Imlay City will look to close out their 2008 slate on a high note this Friday when they travel to Breckenridge. The non-league encounter is scheduled for 7 p.m.